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LONDON (AP) – Prime Minister Boris Johnson confirmed on Thursday that most of the British troops had left Afghanistan, nearly 20 years after the United Kingdom and other Western countries sent troops to the country for s ‘engage in what they have described as a “war on terror”.
Johnson stressed that the threat posed by al-Qaida to the UK had significantly diminished, but avoided questioning whether the precipitous military exodus from his country and its NATO allies risked undermining the work of nearly two decades or so to leave Afghanistan vulnerable to the Taliban, who have made rapid progress in many northern districts.
The prime minister declined to give details of the troop withdrawal, citing security reasons. But he said that “all British troops assigned to the NATO mission in Afghanistan are now returning home”, adding that “most of our personnel have already left”.
Most American and European troops have also withdrawn in recent weeks.
“We have to be realistic about our sole ability to influence the course of events. It will take the combined efforts of many countries, including Afghanistan’s neighbors, to help the Afghan people build their future, ”Johnson said. “But the threat that brought us to Afghanistan in the first place has been greatly diminished by the courage and sacrifice of the British armed forces and many other countries.
He stressed that Britain remains committed to helping achieve a peace settlement in Afghanistan through diplomacy.
“We are not moving away. We keep our embassy in Kabul and we will continue to work with our friends and allies, especially with the Pakistani government, to try to reach a settlement, ”Johnson said.
Britain will continue to fund education, especially girls’ education, in Afghanistan, he said. The UK will also support the Afghan government with more than £ 100million ($ 138million) in development assistance this year, as well as £ 58million for the Afghan security forces.
A total of 150,000 British military personnel have served in Afghanistan over the past 20 years, and 457 have died – a death rate much higher than the United Kingdom’s involvement in Iraq. The last British combat troops left Afghanistan in October 2014, although around 750 remained as part of a NATO mission to train Afghan forces.
The UK Ministry of Defense said the withdrawal of the remaining troops would be “complete in a few months”. A “small number” of the British military will remain temporarily as part of the transition to the new phase of British support to the country.
US President Joe Biden announced in April that the remaining 2,500 to 3,500 US troops and 7,000 NATO allies would leave Afghanistan.
On Tuesday, the US military said 90% of US troops and equipment had already left the country, with the withdrawal due to end in late August. Last week, U.S. officials evacuated the country’s largest airfield, Bagram Air Base, the epicenter of the war to drive out the Taliban and track down the al-Qaida perpetrators of the September 11 terrorist attacks on the America.
Defense Secretary Ben Wallace said the UK was put in a “very difficult position” to continue the mission once the US announced its decision to leave.
General Nick Carter, chief of the British armed forces, said on Thursday that there was now a danger of “state collapse” as half of the rural districts of Afghanistan are now under Taliban control, but he said he did not believe the Taliban could take complete control of the country.
He hoped the Afghan government could work with the Taliban to achieve a political settlement.
“It’s entirely possible that the Afghan government is beating the Taliban long enough for the Taliban to realize they need to speak up,” he said. “I think the Taliban recognize that they cannot rule all of Afghanistan without compromise.
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